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Publication Date
12-1-2022
Description
Entry for the 9th Annual Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest. Opening Reception Thursday, March 02, 2023, Fleet Library, Main Reading Room. Juror: Andre Lee Bassuet.
Keywords
artists' books; Baker & Whitehill
Disciplines
Book and Paper
Student Status
MFA
Year of Graduation
2023
Major
Jewelry + Metalsmithing
Faculty / Course
Jewelry + Metalsmithing: Graduate Studio 3
Materials + Techniques
Digital Printing on Ready-made T-shirt, Washing Label and Sticker
Student Narrative
I am Valerie, a MFA from Jewelry and Metalsmithing Department, also I am from Hong Kong. My research is based on the 2019 and beyond Protests in Hong Kong. The current political situation in Hong Kong is unfortunate. Freedom of speech has been violable. Police brutality can not be blamed, and protests or marches can not be gathered because they may be read as endangering national security. Under these circumstances, I begin to consider how can I integrate resistance into my life or people with similar backgrounds, to help protesters navigate in an untroubled and barrier-free way to express themselves daily under the imposed restrictions and suppression of Hong Kong. “Mong Kok” is one of the pieces from my project “Saved by T-shirt!”, it is a series of 5 souvenir t-shirts with images of certain locations in Hong Kong printed on them. But if you are a protester in Hong Kong, you will easily identify those photo locations are actually the battlefield of the 2019 Hong Kong Protest. When the wearer is wearing it out, it can be read as a kind of memorial or remembrance. Each of the location's backgrounds were printed on the washing label of each of the t-shirts, a statement of what happened at a particular location on a particular day. It is a piece of small printed information presented to those who do not know it, while the history is also printed in an informal way on the other hand to serve as a historical testimony. The t-shirt is also able to function together with a series of 4 stickers. With the green army man representing the protesters and the t-rex representing the Special Tactical Contingent of the police. The wearer is able to patch their own scenery and represent their stand on the apparel as a form of 'non-verbal resistance'. In addition to the sticker's flexibility, removability, and impermanence. It is also collectible but not expensive to make, and when the user needs to discard them in an emergency, the loss is relatively small. Even if it is lost, fallen, cramped and dirty, it is still doing an advertising job as long as it still facing up. The relative adaptability and tenacity of spirit are consistent with the protesters on some levels.
Recommended Citation
Ho, Oi Ying Valerie; Collections, Special; and Library, Fleet, "“Saved by T-shirt! - Mong Kok”" (2022). 9th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2023. 59.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/specialcollections_bookcontest9th2023/59